A review by ronielle
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
3.0
I don't know who to be frustrated with....McCarthy or his editor. What I do know is I left this book feeling frustrated and conflicted.
Here is what I loved: John Grady Cole (I think I'm half in love with him), Rawlins (some of his dialogue made me laugh out loud), the setting (who wouldn't want to take a trip to Mexico after reading this book), McCarthy's gorgeous style and description (I almost want to ride a horse after this and they kind of scare me...)
Here is what I hated: all the Spanish conversations with no footnotes or translation or textual clues to help me know what the Spanish meant. It was not like this came once in a while, it was there a lot and there was a key scene at the end of the novel that took place almost entirely in Spanish. I had no idea what was going on.
I just don't get why McCarthy would do this. I had read about his style and how he is all about the authenticity of the the language and this contributes to why he doesn't use quotation marks, etc. I am guessing that the inclusion of so much Spanish is because this is authentic - a book about two kids in Mexico - people will be speaking Spanish. However, he would have to know that his typically reader would not be bilingual, so I do not understand why he (or an editor/publisher) would not include footnotes or endnotes with translations. This was so incredibly frustrating to me.
I loved so much of this book, but to have a key scene in a language I couldn't understand, kind of ruined the book for me. I would really like to go on for more of the Border Trillogy, but I probably won't as I know I will encounter more of the same. I feel like I am being intentionally alienated by the author and I don't understand the purpose. I would read footnotes of translations until the cows came home, but alas......I guess that would not be authentic.
Here is what I loved: John Grady Cole (I think I'm half in love with him), Rawlins (some of his dialogue made me laugh out loud), the setting (who wouldn't want to take a trip to Mexico after reading this book), McCarthy's gorgeous style and description (I almost want to ride a horse after this and they kind of scare me...)
Here is what I hated: all the Spanish conversations with no footnotes or translation or textual clues to help me know what the Spanish meant. It was not like this came once in a while, it was there a lot and there was a key scene at the end of the novel that took place almost entirely in Spanish. I had no idea what was going on.
I just don't get why McCarthy would do this. I had read about his style and how he is all about the authenticity of the the language and this contributes to why he doesn't use quotation marks, etc. I am guessing that the inclusion of so much Spanish is because this is authentic - a book about two kids in Mexico - people will be speaking Spanish. However, he would have to know that his typically reader would not be bilingual, so I do not understand why he (or an editor/publisher) would not include footnotes or endnotes with translations. This was so incredibly frustrating to me.
I loved so much of this book, but to have a key scene in a language I couldn't understand, kind of ruined the book for me. I would really like to go on for more of the Border Trillogy, but I probably won't as I know I will encounter more of the same. I feel like I am being intentionally alienated by the author and I don't understand the purpose. I would read footnotes of translations until the cows came home, but alas......I guess that would not be authentic.